CRT owners who are gamers...

I'm getting ready to purchase my first big screen, and have been doing research here and avsforum and in stores. The problem is, opinions are varied all over the place and so I wanted to ask people who actually own a big-screen CRT *and* play video games on a regular basis:

What's the real deal with burn in? I've looked at LCD's but the problem is regular Dish Network looks extremely poor and that's 80% of what I'd be watching (Non-HD channels). So I hate to shell out $6G on an LCD that while it avoids burn in, looks crappy 80% of the time.

So that leaves CRT's for the time being, but I've heard some people say "3 hours with a video game and your screen is ruined" and I've heard other people say "turn down the contrast and you'll be fine."

Those of you who actually have CRT's and play games, what's the deal? I don't wanna spend ~$3-4G and have a permanent game image after a month, yet I don't want to be constantly afraid everytime I turn on the Xbox with friends.

And...(sorry for the long post)...any CRT's better than others at resisting burn in? Can an input be set with lower contrast than others so by going to the Xbox input the TV automatically has lower contrast? And...other settings besides contrast that will resist burn in?

Thanks much in advance for any advice and help...this is a big purchase and naturally I'm trying to get some peace of mind before I dive in!